Tomorrow at Burnt Bridge Cellars I’ll be signing copies of my book “Dogs by Sue Clancy” and doing a dog drawing demonstration. This means you can drink wine while watching me work. Here are 5 things I think about when getting ready for a dog drawing demo:

What dogs shall I draw? I plan in advance, sketching lightly in pencil, what dog breeds I’ll draw during the live-action demo. In other words before I even go to the demo I’ve already done the largest part of the “creativity” and double checked my dog-breed drawing accuracy. This way people can talk to me while I’m doing the demo and I don’t need to be concentrating on getting a dog breed drawn correctly.

Locate my demo apron. Ink is messy. ‘nuf said.

Pack all necessary materials in one portable container in a “push-here-dummy” fashion. People will often start talking to me while I’m setting up to work. So I make sure to have all of my necessary materials packed – but I also take care to pack in such a way that I can unpack in a distracted manner and still be set up correctly to work. Keep it simple!

Remember to smile and talk to people. A demo is about sharing – not about zoning out into creative never-land. So if a drawing isn’t “perfect” because I was answering someone’s question and not paying attention to where my ink was dripping – I don’t sweat it – in fact I’ll freely tell people that 90 percent of being an artist is knowing how to fix mistakes.

When the demo is done I make sure to thank everyone for coming, for hosting the demo – for doing anything anyone did that helped me out. The world doesn’t owe me a thing. In fact I’m grateful I get to do what I love for a living – and people around me help make that possible. So in advance: THANK YOU!!!!!!!

You knew, I’m sure, that it was only a matter of time until I tried putting my dog drawings onto fabric… and you were correct! Look what came in the mail just now – a fabric test swatch for my approval. (I approve!!) Tea-towels and napkins here we come…

Here’s the swatch as it came out of the mail-envelope… the rulers are to show scale: